


Ten

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Introspection, Journalling, Pete's World, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-26 15:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16684486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Ten. It’s an ordinary little word.





	Ten

_ Ten. _

_ It’s an ordinary little word. But say it enough times in a row, repeat it over and over until you’ve gone barmy, and it begins to sound incongruous and alien — like my brain and tongue have gone numb. I find myself oddly surrounded by such an everyday numeral. It’s a small enough number to tally on my fingers and yet it’s large enough in years to accommodate so many brilliant, precious memories. _

_ This is my tenth body. Well, technically speaking, it’s my twelfth. But, for simplicity’s sake, we’ll just say it’s the tenth. It’s complicated enough that I’m living in an instantaneous biological metacrisis clone of my tenth self — a 10.2, as it were. _

_ Hmm, Tentoo. It’s got a nice ring to it, don’t you think? _

_ This body may technically be ten years old, but my mind encompasses nearly a millennium of knowledge. I once yelled at a satanic being, claiming that I’d seen everything the universe has to offer: fake gods, bad gods, demi-gods, would-be gods. There was a time or two where I was mistakenly proclaimed a deity myself. I’ve toppled planet-wide dictators, negotiated peace treaties between galaxies, and witnessed horrors I yearn to banish from my mind. There’s hardly a thing in all the stars that surprises me anymore. _

_ Except one — one tiny little hand that I never saw coming, not in my wildest dreams. Ten little fingers that grabbed onto a war-weary soldier and refused to let go. _

_ It was ten years ago, give or take a few hours due to parallel-universal time shifts, that I found that hand in the dark. For all I’ve seen and done, for all the hundreds of years I’ve lived, I didn’t truly feel alive until I met her. My two hearts beat faster. She made me want to be better. Seeing the universe through her eyes breathed new life into me at the exact moment I needed it most. _

_ I don’t have two hearts anymore, but that’s alright — I’ve got her. She’s my second heart, my love, my guiding star, my— _

The Doctor stopped writing as a soft knock interrupted the quiet in his study. He set down his pen and pulled off his glasses, swiveling the chair away from his desk. “Yes?”

Rose poked her head around the door. “Can I come in?”

“Of course, love.”

Smiling softly, she crossed the room and slid on this lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “What are you doin’ in here at two in the mornin’?”

“Oh, just thought I’d give journaling a go.” He squeezed her waist and caressed her growing baby bump, feeling a gentle kick against his palm. “Record the past, so to speak.”

“Everything?” She raised a dubious eyebrow. “I think you’ll need more than one journal.”

“Perhaps.” He glanced at the lone composition book on his desktop, wondering if it could contain all he had to say about her. “But I’m only jotting down the important bits.”

“And what are those?”

He grinned and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “The ones with you.”

 


End file.
